Money pledged to humanitarian work in Gaza from ticket sales at a Norway-Israel qualifying game for soccer’s 2026 World Cup will go to Doctors Without Borders.

The Norwegian Football Association on Monday announced its choice of a partnership with the Nobel Peace Prize-winning health NGO ahead of the sold-out Oct. 11 game in Oslo. It’s likely to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“The money is earmarked for the organization’s relief work on the ground in Gaza and the surrounding areas affected by the war,” the Norwegian soccer body said.

Norway’s pledge last month of soccer money to help Palestinian people comes after Israel — which has played in European soccer competitions for security reasons since joining UEFA in 1994 — has faced almost no pressure within the sport to be suspended or have games boycotted since the conflict in Gaza escalated in October 2023.

Russia was suspended from international soccer after the February 2022 full invasion of Ukraine because so many UEFA member federations refused to face Russian opponents.

“As a member of FIFA and UEFA,” Norwegian FA Lise Klaveness said at a news conference, her federation “has to deal with Israel participating in their competitions.”

“At the same time, we cannot and will not be indifferent to the humanitarian suffering that is taking place in the region, especially the disproportionate attacks against civilians in Gaza.”

Norway has taken the political stand when its men’s national team is the best for a generation and led by superstar striker Erling Haaland. It is set to qualify for a first World Cup since 1998, leading a qualifying group that includes Italy.

Italy soccer president Gabriele Gravina also spoke on Monday about the challenges of playing Israel, which the team hosts on Oct. 14 in Udine.

“We are well aware of the sensitivity of Italian public opinion on this match,” Gravina said in an interview with national public radio. “We care about human dignity so we are very pained by what is happening in Palestine.”

It’s unclear how much profit the Norwegian FA will earn from sales of about 23,000 tickets for the game at Ullevaal Stadium which will have extra security for the Israel visit.

Private donor

A further 3 million Norwegian kroner ($305,000) was promised by “one of the country’s largest investment companies,” the federation said, adding the donor’s identity is known to Doctors Without Borders.

Norwegian soccer has long been among the most politically engaged of FIFA’s 211 members. It was praised for its solidarity by the Geneva-based NGO, which is known widely by its French name Médecins Sans Frontières.

“This reflects MSF’s humanitarian mission to save lives and alleviate suffering regardless of people’s beliefs, origin, orientation, gender or skin color,” secretary general Lindis Hurum said in a statement.

UEFA’s position

Both Klaveness and Italy’s Gravina are members of UEFA’s 20-member executive committee, where one of their colleagues is Moshe Zuares of the Israel Football Association.

Gravina, who is senior vice president at UEFA, said the Italian federation “will coordinate with UEFA to implement some humanitarian initiatives” around the Oct. 14 game.

In Udine last month, UEFA hosted its Super Cup game — between Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain and Europa League winner Tottenham — and laid banners on the field pre-game with the words “Stop Killing Children, Stop Killing Civilians.”

Italy failed to qualify for the past two World Cups, and refusing to play Israel would mean forfeiting the game as a mandatory 3-0 loss.

“It happened, Italy is in a group with Israel, not playing also means clearly saying we’re not going to the World Cup, we have to be aware of that,” Gravina said.

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AP Sports writers Daniella Matar in Milan and Steve Douglas contributed.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer